Black Friday has Struck the Mike Force

Today is a big shopping day both in stores and online. I drove by a few stores today and did not see the lines but I can testify that my Friday breakfast spots were much busier. I ended up having my big meal breakfast at the Country Way Restaurant in Fremont which was nice. Always room at the counter for a single dude.

I had decided to shop for a laptop because I am still waffling on using the iPad Pro for my travels. I had the MacBook Pro 13 inch for awhile and while I liked it, a friend’s family ended up needing it more. I started looking again today on eBay and found a 12 inch 2017 MacBook (not pro) for almost half price. The things I like about this tech include the form factor, larger drive space, and still with no fan. I guess I was into self spoilage because I went on and got a new daypack and a travel backpack from my favorite vendor RedOxx. I had and used the AirBoss for years but the need this time was for something I could use in a variety of ways. I went with the Lil Hombre which is a new entry. I started considering what a travel backpack has to do to make it worthwhile for me. These packs are a specialized thing and I will use the finalist for a long time on the road. It must be able to hold the clothing I will take and be TSA friendly for carry-on. I detest checked baggage since having stuff end up basically at other places or checked all the way through when traveling to India. I landed in Singapore after 17 hours of flight only to find the company had made a mistake with the next booking. The baggage was trapped in the terminal storage area and I had to rent a transit room with no clothing changes or other required hygiene type stuff. Very painful. At that point I knew I needed something else. Enter RedOxx and the AirBoss.

Now my needs are different for this kind of bag. What is needed is a bag that can be carried in three or four ways like across the body, on the back, slung over a shoulder, or with carry handles on side and front. It also cannot load bottom up like a backpack does for cross country. I should be able to unzip the bag and have everything easily reachable. The Lil Hombre is this bag. It has three containers but is absent the usual internal storage compartments. That’s okay actually since I ended up also buying the next thing.

The next thing is a daypack which can hold a variety of things but still be slid under the seat in front. I settled for a North Face Jester Backpack. This versatile little pack will hold two devices, camera gear, paperwork and is of the usual North Face quality which is top notch. The daypack is the daily expression of use while the carry-on bag choice fulfills the need to carry, store, and flexibly transit international lobbies.

I think the two new bags fulfill what I need for carry-on and personal carry. It’s about three months before I leave the place. Finding the final travel things is fun. Considering the counts of things, what I will need to sustain myself on busses and trains and planes has always been fun. The act and art of this travel is different. Not returning after XX days means its more important than ever to find things which will provide that flexibility and worth. I could say money is not an object but it is. It always is but I will be going with the devices I choose and we shall see how well I have planned this. The truth is no amount of planning ever offset the karma of travel. Things go crazy on any flight, train trip, bus ride. Once riding the Coast Starlight Amtrak train, we were delayed for hours outside of Portland Oregon because of a freight train mishap. You get a sense of things when a delay happens or you are booked on connecting flights and you succumb to the desire to check bags. At least the baggage checking thing is not a thing for me any longer.

Have a good Black Friday. Sharpen those deal cutters and find the bargains for the things you want and need. I probably bought a few extra things. Such is life in the Mike lane.